Trading Partners: Costco, CS Wholesale & UNFI
Client Since: August 2013
Interview With: Matt Grebil, Director of Operations

Q. Matt, can you tell us a little about Three Twins' history and how the name originated?

A. Founding Twin, Neal Gottlieb, started Three Twins in August of 2005 as a one-man, one-shop operations in San Rafael, California. He would make ice cream in the morning, man the shop during the day, clean-up in the evening, and do paperwork at night. The name comes from the days when Neal lived with his twin brother, Carl, and sister-in-law, Liz (also a twin). They used to call their home “Three Twins.” When it came time to name the business, Neal couldn't think of a better one. Over the next several years, Neal added employees, opened another ice cream shop in Napa, and began selling outside of the ice cream shop to restaurants and grocery stores. In 2010, Three Twins opened a factory in Petaluma, California, and business began to boom. Today there are more than 100 employees, 5 ice cream shops, and a second factory in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (beginning production this month).

Q. Where is your product carried?

A. Three Twins is sold at over 2,500 locations across the US, mainly in natural and specialty markets, but also in conventional grocery stores and convenience stores as well. Three Twins is also sold in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and South Korea.

Q. What is your favorite Three Twins flavor?

A. This is a really tough question to answer. It's like asking a parent who their favorite child is; you're proud of each of them for different reasons and you love them all the same. But I can take down a whole pint of our Lemon Cookie ice cream without a second thought.

Q. Some of the items available for purchase on your website are pretty wild. Has Neal ever actually hand-delivered 100 pints personally or trekked Kilimanjaro?

A. We have some pretty absurd items available for purchase on our website and in our ice cream shops. Yes, Neal has actually hand-delivered 100 pints personally in his green tuxedo. We also have the Mt. Kilimanjaro trip (guided tour to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro; make ice cream with Neal using glacial ice from the summit). While nobody has purchased it, Neal has made the trek and made ice cream using glacial ice scraped from the summit (he had to do market research before we could offer it on the menu).

Q. How has EDI/B2BGateway improved or streamlined your order processing?

A. EDI with B2BGateway has saved us a lot of time, money, and headaches. By integrating with our order fulfillment software (All Orders by NumberCruncher) and our accounting software (QuickBooks), we have been able to serve more customers while maintaining our level of staffing (and sanity). And the staff at B2BGateway has always been very helpful, from the first implementation call through the ongoing support they provide us today.

About B2BGateway: B2BGateway is a leading global e-invoice and EDI solutions provider with offices in North America, Ireland, Scandinavia, and Australia. B2BGateway is a GS1 Accredited solution provider and offers 24/7 customer support. The solutions are simple to use, competitively priced, high effective and can increase profitability by reducing costs associated with manual data entry. For further information, please call +1 (401) 491-9595 or log onto www.B2BGateway.Net